Timing is everything.

You can’t explain things to your dog, so you must be methodical and precise with your words and movements to ensure they make the correct associations. Proper timing is critical to this process. You have approximately one second after your dog does something to reward them; any longer, they will not understand what they are being rewarded for.

For example, if you tell your dog to sit and they do, but you give them a treat after they get up, they will think you rewarded them for getting up. Your opportunity to reward them for sitting ended one second after their butt touched the floor. You might be able to reward some behaviors within that one second, but it can get tricky when teaching complicated behaviors.

Most trainers use something called a reward marker to address this issue. Using classical conditioning (remember Pavlov’s dogs?), you can create a conditioned response to a word or sound called a marker. I recommend using the word “Yes.” Through repetition, your dog will learn that “Yes” always predicts a reward. Once you have conditioned your dog to the marker, you can use it to mark the exact moment they earned a reward. Think of it as an IOU. When your dog hears you say “Yes,” they know that whatever they just did earned them a reward. You must say “Yes” within one second of the behavior, but the marker acts as a placeholder, giving you time to deliver the reward. Some trainers use clickers for this, making a click sound instead of the word “Yes.”

Another way timing affects your dog’s learning process is with movement. When interacting with your dog, be hyper-aware of your body position, posture, and gestures. Dogs are not verbal creatures; they make decisions based on what you do more than what you say. If you want to teach your dog to respond to your words, you must speak before you move. If you speak and move simultaneously, your dog will disregard the verbal information and respond to your movement. The confusion caused by pairing verbal and physical information this way is called overshadowing and is one of the most common mistakes people make when training their dogs.

Overshadowing becomes a problem as your training progresses because your dog may learn to move whenever you do, which is often the opposite of what you want. For example, when teaching your dog to stay on command, you need them to remain in position even if you walk away. If they learn to respond to your movement instead of your words, “Stay” becomes an unfair and confusing command. However, if you speak and then move in training, your dog will learn to do what you say, not what you do.

Learning to speak before you move is easier said than done; people naturally talk and move in unison. It will take some practice to develop a habit of separating the two, but it is worth the effort.